INTERESTING....We were there on the 6th & they said that was the last revenue day & they had a 35 car train staged for the following day for a company photo. Got some GREAT shots & AWESOME movies the day we were there.

Nope this was the only bituminous mine hauling coal by an underground rail system.

BENWOOD - After seven years and $206 million, Consol Energy Inc. has prepared Shoemaker Mine for the 21st century.

A new belt haulage system was installed, beginning in 2006, to replace the antiquated rail car system used for transporting coal out of the mine. According to information provided by public relations Director Joseph Cerenzia, planning for the project got under way in 2003, when the company set out to extend the life of the mine and preserve the 600 jobs there.

In addition to the new method of moving coal, the investment led to shaft rehabilitation, upgrades to the longwall mining system and improvements to the load-out facilities along the Ohio River and the preparation plant. As a result, the company predicts Shoemaker will produce 4.9 million tons of coal this year; previous estimates said the mine could produce as much as 6 million tons annually.

"With this new system in place, along with other capital improvements, Shoemaker Mine will be more competitive in the marketplace for the Pittsburgh 8 coal produced there," said Nicholas J. DeIuliis, Consol Energy executive vice president and chief operating officer.

The new haulage system is comprised of 12 miles of conveyor belt underground and 2.5 miles of an overland conveyor belt system that moves coal to the prep plant

The rail car system hauled one last load of coal from the depths of th earth in northern Marshall County on Tuesday. The company said Shoemaker was the last large underground longwall mine in the nation to initiate full conveyor belt haulage. Company officials and employees were on hand to witness the final trip of rail cars.

Area residents watched the installation of the state-of-the-art belt system, the overland portion of which resembles a giant, blue snake winding through the hills along Boggs Run. In May, traffic on W.Va. 2 was halted several times while crews erected a portion of the covered belt that crosses over the highway.

Consol inked an agreement with American Electric Power in 2006 to supply coal for many of AEP's coal-fired electric generation plants for 15 years, beginning in 2007. As part of the agreement, 82.5 million tons of coal are expected to come from Shoemaker and Consol's other Marshall County complex, McElroy Mine, which has a prep plant south of Moundsville. The new belt system at Shoemaker will help the company achieve this production level.

Also in 2006, Shoemaker was idled to allow work on the haulage system to begin. Though more than 250 people were laid off, production resumed later that year to meet demand. It produced about 1 million tons of coal a year while the work was ongoing, according to Senior Vice President of External Affairs Thomas Hoffman.

"I think it's reasonable to believe the demand for natural resources, particularly energy, will continue to be strong," Hoffman has said. "Big, developing countries like India, China and Indonesia, with growing populations, are increasing their standard of living, and they will continue to want to do that."

Hoffman believes there will be a long-term need to use coal for the production of electrical energy in the United States - and that's a good thing for the Ohio Valley's economy.

"We have huge reserves of energy in the Ohio Valley," he said. "We've got experienced people to get (the coal) out of the ground, a transportation network to take it to market, huge power companies with great technical expertise - all the ingredients are there for these types of jobs to be long-term, career jobs."

Consol has 12 coal mining complexes in six states and reports coal reserves of 4.5 billion tons. It is also a majority owner of CNX Gas Corp., a leading Appalachian natural gas producer.

Acording to the article this is the last longwall mine to use rail hualage, so dose that mean that there are still room and pillar mines that use rail hualage?

Group,

I am new here so I was hoping I could reopen this thread from several years ago. Does anybody know if the Shoemaker has reaped any real benefits from this conversion? It would seem to me that conveyor belts could deliver a continuous stream of coal by might be more expensive to maintain than rail with all those miles and miles of moving parts. Does anybody know? Also, if there are no more bitumimous mines using rail what about anthracite or hard rock mines? Are any of those still employing underground rail?

A gunboat is called by several names, as has been discussed somewhere, that is used to carry miners, supplies and coal from the workings to the surface. It is cable hoisted from the surface. Think incline railway.

It the case of miners and supplies it stops at the surface level. for coal it will travel farther up a tower and dump.

I couldn't find a picture, but they do exist.

_________________I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

every anthracite still active uses some sort of underground rail haulage except harmony. most are hand trammed to the slope and dumped in a gunboat.

Thanks! That's good to know! Do you know if any of these anthracite mines have tours? On our tour page (here: http://www.ironminers.com/mine-tours/ ) it seems to indicate they do but I thought I read somewhere else on the list yesterday where they are no longer doing this do to "liability issues". That really is too darn bad.

Is there no way they could have people just sign a waiver relinquishing the operator from all liability in case of an accident? Shoot! I'd sign it in a New York minute!

Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:34 pmPosts: 6906Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field

Feel free to visit any of the 3 anthracite tour mines as they all have rail haulage, where the haulage is people. If you would like a personal private tour pm me and we can arrange that. You will not be able to get a tour of any active anthracite mines in pa. Too many state and federal regulations against that.

Feel free to visit any of the 3 anthracite tour mines as they all have rail haulage, where the haulage is people. If you would like a personal private tour pm me and we can arrange that. You will not be able to get a tour of any active anthracite mines in pa. Too many state and federal regulations against that.

Thanks, Chris! I just might do that! I actually live in northern Indiana but I will most definitely keep this in mind the next time I make a trip out east. As I mentioned in another thread, we heat our house here in Indiana with anthracite coal!

Fred, What does a ton of delivered anthracite go for in Indiana? Do you have any idea where or from whom the coal comes from?

Thanks,Scott

Well, on the last load I got back in December, I think it was, it was closing in on $300 a ton. Maybe $280 or 290 or something like that. Pretty salty but I believe it's still cheaper than burning gas or oil not to mention electricity! I don't mind making fire and we live out in the country so disposing of the ashes is no problem. 20 years ago or thereabouts I experimented with burning bituminous coal but it made such a mess! My wife was NOT a happy camper! It made a really nice, cozy fire, though, was easy to start and I kinda liked the smell of the smoke outside. It gave me visions of old, coal-burning steam locomotives.

In the area where I live there are actually a couple of coal yards that sell anthracite. I know the guys personally who run the yards but I have no idea where they get it from (other than it's in eastern PA).

I really like burning it and I intend to continue burning it as long as I can get it.

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